The DOJ's Memo In the Sullivan Matter: "This Guy's a Fucking Retard. Just Look At Him."

Okay not really but for just one split-second I conjured a magical universe for you in which they might have said that.

Still, they're not impressed with Emmet Sullivan's Joe-Biden-level of mental acuity.

All of Sean Davis' recap and commentary are worth reading, but here's a bit:

"When, like many other defendants, petitioner pleaded guilty but later asserted his innocence, he did not expose himself to prosecution for criminal contempt of court," Francisco and the other DOJ attorneys noted. "The court lacks authority to bring its own prosecution of petitioner, for two independent reasons."

"First, any false statements in this context are not contempt under 18 U.S.C. § 401," the continued. "Second, even if petitioner’s conduct were punishable as contempt, the authority to prosecute him would lie with the Executive, not the court."

I'm not sure what that citation is about, but I assume that it's about this: You can't charge someone for a "false statement" as regards his pleading guilty or innocent to charges. I would imagine that was made a rule, or law, long ago, or else otherwise and unscrupulous prosecutor could simply add a new charge to every prosecution -- perjury -- when someone the prosecutor thinks is guilty (or at least wants to paint as guilty) says "I'm innocent, your honor."

That's what Sullivan is doing here -- he's claiming that Flynn's compelled-by-the-state speech, saying either "guilty" or "innocent," itself can serve as the basis of a new perjury prosecution.

The DOJ attorneys cited precedent after precedent, including Supreme Court decisions, that require Sullivan to dismiss Flynn’s case rather than mounting his own personal prosecution against Flynn.

...

In his own response to the court, also filed on Monday afternoon, an attorney representing Sullivan argued that because DOJ’s motion to dismiss was unopposed by any of the actual parties to the case, he had a duty to become an adversary in the proceedings.

By the way, Emmet Sullivan's lunatic scribblings suggested that he had to open his own private detective agency to look into this funky mystery because, among other things, the decision to dismiss the Flynn charges was made by someone up the chain of command at the DOJ, and not a "line attorney," which I guess is maybe a run of the mill, frontline attorney?

So anyway: They made sure that this DOJ memo was signed not only by all the top appellate lawyers at the DOJ but a precious line attorney, so that Emmett Sullivan wouldn't dream up more wheels-within-wheels conspiracies that he felt the need to ferret out.

posted by Ace at 06:59 PM

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